Welcome to the season of Elul 5786. Tomorrow at sunset, on the secular calendar’s August 13th (Thursday) comes Rosh Chodesh Elul. Friday welcomes Elul 1. Our minds will begin to ponder this amazing new month called Elul.
It is more than a new month. We enter a new season of meditations and examinations. Our days are leaving the Hebraic calendar’s month of Av. Now we are coming into the Hebraic calendar’s month of Elul. Elul means “Teshuvah” which means “repentance”, or “returning.”
Just the feat of reaching Elul is an encouragement to us. How delightful to know that God is still with us. He still loves us very much. YHVH is even willing to walk us through this season by helping us develop better ways to live. Elul is about restoring the brokenness of the world. As we watch for the new moon, we begin to see how God is slowly repairing the world. He works with one heart at a time.
ELUL IS RESTORATION FROM BROKENESS
The first day of Elul is when Moses descended Mt. Sinai for the second time. He had gone up to plead with God for the broken people after the tragic incident of the Golden Calf. On this second trip up the mountain, Moses was given the complete Law of God. Again, he is instructed to share it with the people. Having the written law helps people to recognize the definition of sin. In order to overcome something one must first recognize its existence.
God didn’t give us the law to bind us. He gave the law to help us. It wasn’t something God did to control us. The Law was something God did to love us.
LOVE COMES FIRST
This fact made me think back on lessons from a past trip when we visited Ivy Green with our grandchildren. We saw the play called The Miracle Worker. The play portrayed the amazing story of Helen Keller. Helen, being deaf and blind could not learn to talk. Her teacher spoke to her in sign language. It was a long time before she was able to truly comprehend what was being said. First, Helen had to realize and understand that the sign language held meaning for her life.
God’s law is our sign language. Speaking of keeping the Sabbath, which is one part of the law, we are promised that this law is a sign between us and YHVH. We can read this in Exodus 31:13 which states, “Surely you must keep My Sabbaths, for this will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
By keeping the law from our hearts, God knows we truly desire to love and follow Him forever. Have you learned how to communicat this part of the sign yet?
UNDERSTANDING RESTORATION
This discovery of the process of “sign language” for Helen Keller is similar to how the law of God manifests to a Christian. At first we walk through life paying no attention to the law. We know it is there. The evidence of its presence is all around us. We are aware of The Law and know that it exists.
However, before we know Messiah, we hardly notice God’s laws. We rarely slow down enough to ponder or think about them. Until we realize and understand the law’s concepts, they hold no meaning for us. Thus, we continue to walk in sin. Basically we live in chaos similar to how Helen Keller lived before she comprehended the process of sign-language.
Like Helen discovering the magic of a new language, we come to the discovery that knowing and understanding the law helps us to communicate better with God. This amazing discovery gives us a breakthrough to a much better life. It makes all the difference in the way we do life.
This is the point where the usefulness of the law takes on new meaning. That was the way sign language worked for Helen Keller. Yet, it was totally useless to her until she finally grasped that the sign language process carried useful meaning.
When Helen Keller grasped the usefulness of language, it changed every aspect of her life. The Laws of God work the same way for Christians. Ann Sullivan sacrificed much of her own life to help Helen understand how to communicate with the world. Yeshua sacrificed all of His life to help us to understand how to communicate with God.
THE NEED FOR SALVATION
Thus, understanding and keeping God’s laws becomes the way for Christians to learn how to move into holiness by overcoming sin. This one process bring us order when we once lived in chaos.
Of course, humanity could not do this very well for very long. All through the ages, our humanity has continued to dictate the desires of the lowest part of our souls. We humans are champion sinners. The beastly nature of our souls always wants to rule. Typically we are not so great at overcoming sin. Thus, the need for Our Messiah’s gift of salvation.
Helen Keller wasn’t very good at overcoming either. That is to say, until she was saved from her chaotic world when Ann Sullivan entered her life, cared for her and helped her to communicate. Ann Sullivan sacrificed her own life to love Helen. Eventually Helen honored this sacred gift from her teacher.
HONORING THE SACRED
In the season of Elul we meditate on how we can better honor that sacred sacrifice of Jesus. We do so by learning the best ways to keep God’s laws. The main process of this learning method is to follow Jesus.
We should lean on and follow Jesus just as Helen Keller followed Ann Sullivan. She often imitated what she knew from Ann’s examples and teachings. We should be following Jesus in the same way. The season of Elul helps us to concentrate on finding these concepts and putting them to use daily.
When we keep the law properly, it happens not out of duty, but straight from the heart. Ann Sullivan had to capture the heart of Hellen first. It was necessary before she could communicate with her mind and intellect.
Jesus wins our hearts first. Then in time, from imitating Him, our higher spiritual nature takes control of our lower, animal-like nature. That is when we begin to truly follow the law. Not from the letter, but from the heart. This isn’t because we have to, it is because we want to.
TRUE WISDOM
The person who manages to keep physical laws for spiritual reasons has gained true wisdom. True wisdom is life changing. It gives you the ability to live life on a higher, spiritual level instead of by lower animal instincts. We learn how to stretch up. The law keeps our head over our heels. Elul is the month for those who wish to live in God’s true wisdom. It is a time for growth, development and restoration.
LIVING THE SEASON
Since Elul is a season as well as a month, we will be discussing this month a bit more than we have discussed many other months. Look forward to many Elul topics as the new moon turns through its stages this month. If you wish to own some daily meditations written from a Christian perspective, here is a link for purchasing a great book: https://amzn.to/4qefEbZ.
This is an interesting and encouraging time to be a child of God. There is much to think about. The IN SEASON Lifestyle wants to meditate on each and every relevant subject. We know that joy waits at the end of this season of observance. By Sukkot our joy is full. It happens when we pay attention to the details and the little things along the way.
Let the journey of Elul begin!